UK Supreme Court to hear gay discrimination case

British B&B owners and self-avowed devout Christians Hazel and Peter Bull have been granted a case review by the UK’s Supreme Court after the couple were told by two lower courts that equality laws mean they cannot deny same-sex couples a double room when running a public establishment.

This comes after the court of appeals, in a unanimous decision earlier this year, declared that a Bristol judge was right in ruling in 2011 that the Bulls, owners of the Chymorvah Private Hotel near Penzance, Cornwall, had indeed violated the rights of gay couple Martyn Hall and Steven Preddy when they denied the couple a double room based on the couple’s sexuality. The appeals court noted that while Britiain’s equality laws grant license for private religious beliefs, those beliefs are not suitable justification for discrimination in the public sector.